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 | |
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Ownership | |
| Owner | British Sky Broadcasting |
| History | |
| Launched | 1 October 1991 |
| Closed | 30 September 1992 (365 days) |
| Replaced by | Sky Movies Gold |
The Comedy Channel was a short-livedsatellite television network owned byBritish Sky Broadcasting during the early 1990s.
The channel launched on 1 October 1991,[1] soon after the merger ofSky Television plc andBritish Satellite Broadcasting. The merged company calledBritish Sky Broadcasting, brought together comedy programming from its existing libraries – Sky having an archive ofAmerican imports (includingThree's Company,I Love Lucy,Green Acres,The Beverly Hillbillies andSeinfeld) and BSB having obtained rights to a number ofBBC sitcoms such as'Allo 'Allo!,Steptoe and Son,Are You Being Served?,Porridge,Dad's Army andThe Goodies.
The Comedy Channel existed in the days before the basicSky Multichannels subscription package, so was made available as a premium service to subscribers of eitherSky Movies orThe Movie Channel.[citation needed] Listings for the channel were carried inRadio Times[2] and other listings magazines.
The network lost its broadcasting rights following the expiry of the contract between the BBC and former BSB. Eventually the channel closed on 30 September 1992 to be replaced bySky Movies Gold, a service dedicated to "classic movies".[citation needed] Following the end of the contract with Sky, the BBC's archive programming was subsequently used to launchUK Gold on satellite andcable from 1 November 1992.
Sky would not relaunch a comedy-based channel until the arrival ofSky Comedy on 27 January 2020, it retains a minority interest in the domestic version ofViacomCBS'sComedy Central.
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